DOSBox crashes (an exception) at that point when I use fixed cycles, but with auto cycles it does not crash and goes on to the main menu. With a problem like this, I suppose it might not happen the same way for you as it does for me. The usual stuff: memsize, loadfix, dos32a, doesn't seem to help with the crashiness.

The SB sound in the game is somewhat broken up, and is the same with all sbtypes. However, the sound is smooth with a GUS config.

You mean I couldn't do anything with it ? I tried changing cycles, sound nothing works.

Here is my conf file I use to play with. Never had a crash with it. http://www.sendspace.com/file/cwji6a

it's a problem with dos4gw.exe, caused by an unexpected interrupt.
interrupts are enabled from inside an interrupt handler which the game programs to run very often.
if the cycles are too low, then lots of interrupts queue up, and the recursive invocation causes the stack to eventually overwrite the code.

Pretty much I have the same problem with the fixed cycles. I tried the game with the default config file in 0.74 and latest SVN version, but the Sound Blaster modes are messed up. So I tried to set a fixed cycle and the game crashed like on your machines.

Tried the Gravis Ultrasound mode and it worked like a charm. It sounds much better, but it's slow compared with a real machine. Don't know if this is another DOS4GW issue. I asked on the IRC channel but Harekiet didn't cared, like he always does when I report a bug... 🤣

Set the cycles to dynamic, used loadfix, set the memsize to 32 but still nothing. The game plays just fine, except the music is slow like a snail. Here are some videos I found on YouTube, and pretty much valid for my machine too.

Sound Blaster DOSBox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBHe6lyNCrw
Gravis Ultrasound DOSBox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU_YXzaNMw8
Title screen full speed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGUY7ufAc9A
Another full speed one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STNi6FkKelk

Also older versions of DOSBox does the same. 0.65 crashes, but the game was first working in 0.70 from what I can tell. And every single version I tried does the same. 😢

This seems to smooth out the ride:

1) Set machine=vesa_oldvbe in the conf, but otherwise use default settings. The game won't set SVGA mode for VESA 2.0, but it finds VESA 1.2 acceptable. Maybe the game was released before the 2.0 spec and simply wasn't programmed to recognize it.

2) Run SETUP.EXE and choose "Soundblaster 16" for the soundcard, then accept (save) settings.

3) Run SPEED.EXE with a -novbl parameter.

Run SPEED.EXE with a -help parameter to read the game's explanation of what the -novbl parameter is for.

It seems the game still crashes at startup, seemingly at random, so keep trying. It may be helpful to not press any keys until the menu appears.

Oh WOW! I didn't knew about the -help parameter. Thanks for that ripsaw8080. I made some tests and found some interesting facts.

The workaround you posted works like a charm! However there is no need for the machine=vesa_oldvbe in the config file. Seems like it's working just fine with the -novbl parameter. Every music file plays at the right speed.

Now here's some more interesting stuff. I can run the game with the default config with the -nologo parameter only and the music is working just fine in the main menu and the car selection screen. However if I quit to the race the music gets messed up again. This includes the race results and the main menu and exit songs.

So yeah the -novbl is a great solution for this problem, and seems like the logos and the race even if I leave everything at default, even the graphics at VGA 320x200. Weird but it works! Thank you for the reply ripsaw8080!

The machine=vesa_oldvbe setting is not for the sound issue; it's for the SVGA graphics issue. The game won't set 640x480 mode with the default machine=svga_s3 setting because of the reported version of VESA. I thought I explained that, but I guess not well enough.

It works on my end. I tried it with the same default config file and only used the -novbl parameter, and nothing more. You need to set SVGA 640x480 in the main menu setup. It's in the graphics options. Used the left arrow and to change it from the default VGA 320x200 and started the game.

Can you please try it on your side? Because it works on mine. So it may not be any problems with that. There's a slight change that your version is much more different than mine. If I quit the game mine mentions v1.00

Note that 640x480 is only set in a race, not in the menus or other screens. You can change the setting in the options, but when you start a race it doesn't actually set 640x480, it reverts to 320x200; and when the race is over, if you go back to the graphics options you'll see it's changed itself back to 320x200. The game I have here claims to be V1.00 in the text bar at the top of the screen.

What is the CRC-32 of your SPEED.EXE file?

I agree with you that the menu is 320x200 but the SVGA mode works. Same default config and machine=svga_s3. I installed the game, ran SETUP.EXE to set Sound Blaster 16, and ran the game with -novbl. After that I set changed it to 640x480, and started a race. Actually it switched to 640x400 and not 640x480, but the same thing happens with the SVN and with machine=vesa_oldvbe

After ending the race I get the 320x200 just like you, but that's how it should be, my settings are preserved, and even if I quit and relaunch the game I can tell the same thing. Something is wrong on your side.

Here is a screen recording for your interest: http://www.screencast.com/t/qT3y6r47
Please note that this video is not edited and seems like I cannot reproduce your issue. As I said before it worked just fine on my end. Now that's interesting that the game runs at 640x400 instead of 640x480...

Edit: Here's the hash of my executable. I installed it as you can see in the screen recording.

[ C:\test\SPEED\SPEED.EXE ]
CRC32: 6D056238
MD5: 09597C4996A22BCA2364D8150FF2BC17
SHA-1: 2D40152DB25C693751612B753E87E8DA3B138181

Despite that they both say they're v1.00 registered, we have different versions of the game. The installer I have looks quite different.

Here is a thread regarding the SVGA issue:
Speed Haste SVGA problem

So, apparently not all versions of version 1.00 are affected. However, if the game won't go into SVGA mode for you, then machine=vesa_oldvbe is a solution.

Looks indeed very weird. Grabbed four other copies and two of them works right and the other ones doesn't change the resolution. But I even found one version has the same tachometer as mine and still glitches just like your version with the black one. Fount that one as well and it's the same thing.

There are two sets of SPEEDH.JCL files and they have different hashes.

This is the one I have, and I found two of these...
CRC32: 2A3ED123
MD5: 722392D8532E325894B89B92E25260D9
SHA-1: E389B0B4B946459DCED1643BEB94081B4F9DA3C9

This should be yours I guess...
CRC32: 090B7FEC
MD5: 0644BEF0154590C3FE86405E9FF872D5
SHA-1: 821ABB875F97F70666C54BD718466C01F06D6F84

But that didn't changed anything if I copied over your version. So I checked every executable and found out that I have two different version.

This is your version and I have another copy of this and this is the glitchy one:
CRC32: E5947657
MD5: CF96831BA27E37EE8C24885927E0AB10
SHA-1: 80E68A659F2A5FED66B92416B4C0983914BA3442

And the rest are the one I just posted before. All nice and good, and I even found out why your tachometer is black. There's an option in the config file called CarType and it's set to 0. That's why it's transparent on mine, but I can easily change that as well. The only thing is that it's an option for changing it from Formula 1 to Stock cars just like in the options. Only in Stock mode you get a black tachometer.

OK, this game is officialy a bitch 😀 Been trying to get SVGA mode in Dosbox and after wasting a lot of time I wanted to tell my little story in case anyone can understand what I've been doing wrong.

I usually don't use different .conf files, just a general configuration that suits me and I explicitly change specific things for each game if needed from command line. In this specific game I was doing:
machine=vesa_oldvbe
After confirming that "machine <enter>" correctly reports the new changed type, I was launching speed.exe. No SVGA.

At this point I considered pulling my hair, but I don't have any. So I tried the what-if scenario of not specifying the machine type in command line, but in Dosbox's .conf file. Well, it worked.

Does anyone has any explanation about this? Did I do anything wrong/not recommended/stupid? This is the first time that configuring from the command line doesn't work for me. Furthermore, since my whole setup/collection is based on similar command line configuration and not seperate config files, is there any solution to this if I'm not the one to blame?
PS: I did try the same on latest version, the same behavior as 0.74.

Not all is configurable from the commandline.
Changing the machine would be really complex, so it is not implemented.

You can use the restart options in SVN though.

I see, at least it makes some sense. Thanks for clearing this out.
So what "machine" reported after the change was not actually active.
I'll do some reading on the restart to see how/if I can take advantage of it on my setup, although I use 0.74 for the screenshots and IPX capability that from what I know vanilla SVN for Windows lacks.

Still a pain 😀
Does anyone have any idea on how to get SVGA on real hardware? I tried it on an P1 MMX with a Matrox G450 and I'm having the same problem. Apparently the G450 reports a non-recognizable VESA version, is there any way to enforce it?
Ouf, this game doesn't like me as much as I do...

I think it was a mistake to only accept VESA 1.2, as later versions should work fine for the game's purpose, although it seems not all releases have the erroneous version check. The attached loader program will change the reported VESA version to 1.2, place it in the game directory and start the game with "speed" and any command line parameters as usual. It should work in real DOS as it does in DOSBox with machine=svga_s3, but for DOSBox it's probably easier to use the machine=vesa_oldvbe setting.

ripsaw8080 wrote:

I think it was a mistake to only accept VESA 1.2, as later versions should work fine for the game's purpose, although it seems not all releases have the erroneous version check. The attached loader program will change the reported VESA version to 1.2, place it in the game directory and start the game with "speed" and any command line parameters as usual. It should work in real DOS as it does in DOSBox with machine=svga_s3, but for DOSBox it's probably easier to use the machine=vesa_oldvbe setting.

Thank you soooo much for this, I just had the chance to try it and it works beautifully! To be honest I wasn't really expecting a solution since the game is to blame for its behavior, but you nailed it 😉 I guess with this Speed Haste has been resolved by all aspects.

Just being curious now, you did write the loader yourself just for this occasion, right?